This past weekend I went to get a burger. Under most circumstances this would not be remarkable at all; most of us would eat a burger pretty regularly, whether it is Cookout late at night or a less than premium option from one of Tech’s dining halls. This weekend, however, was fall break, and the burger was located 781 miles away at an In-N-Out restaurant in Dallas, Texas.

The idea was proposed by one of my friends earlier that week, and by Wednesday we had a solid group of eight people in two cars, all prepared to make the ridiculous into reality. We left from Tech on Friday afternoon, and were soon on Interstate 20 heading west, with full hearts and empty stomachs.

Road trips, as with any long journey, pass through phases. On this trip, our phases aligned with the states we drove through. In Alabama, we were hopeful. We had just started driving, and had a long road ahead of us, but somehow our goal felt so close we could taste it. I chalk this up to the fact that even though we knew how far it was and how long it would take, we did not have a concept of what that would feel like. It is very easy to talk about driving for a full 24 hours before or after it is passed, but it feels like an eternity in the middle. In Alabama, though, we passed things like Talladega Motor Speedway and a sign advertising rides in a military tank that helped to liven the mood.

The second phase took place in Mississippi. It was by far the quietest part of the trip, as we were adjusting to the reality of being in a car for an extended period of time, and the need to sleep was catching up with us. We slept in shifts, and managed to make it through the state quickly enough. In Louisiana, the delirium of a long ride fully set in, especially after we settled into a game of leapfrog with a truck, speeding past them and being overtaken for dozens of miles.

It fully caught up with us when we got to our hotel in Shreveport, Louisiana, where our midnight check in led to eight of us in a room with only one bed. We slept on whatever — chairs, towels and tables were available, and each of us passed out for a full eight hours after our twelve hour drive.

The next day, we completed the last leg of our journey, driving the last five hours into Dallas, and into In-N-Out. Whatever you may have heard about their burgers, I guarantee that nothing has tasted as good to me as that burger that I had driven hundreds of miles across three states for.

I made sure to get my money’s worth — we all did. After an hour long lunch, all eight of us got back into our cars and began the long journey home over the same interstate we had traveled the day before.

Beyond the fact that this trip was absolutely ridiculous, as I was told time and time again by parents, friends and even some of the other customers at the In-N-Out, it also represents one of those rare opportunities to do something spontaneous. We only have this kind of liberty for a few years during and after college before the pressures of career or family decimate our free time.

Doing something outrageous while we still can is a good way to ensure that once our free time has run out and we have settled into our comfortable routine we have something to look back on fondly. It is also a good reminder to not settle into a routine just yet, to enjoy yourself more and say yes to the extraordinary.

If you want to live near Tech’s campus, but not in Institute-owned housing, then you are left with a handful of options. The Standard is one such option, and the eighteen-story apartment complex which opened last year has been plagued by complaints from residents from the beginning.

Construction of the complex was six months behind schedule when the first tenants began to move in, and only one of the two elevators was in service. These initial issues were set aside, as tenants expected the end of construction to resolve many issues; it did not.

Currently, the Standard has a rating of 2.2/5 stars on Google. Comparable East Midtown options Square on Fifth and U House have 3.6/5 stars and 3.9/5 stars, respectively. The comments included alongside the negative reviews provide insight into the various failings of the Standard’s management, the most glaring of which are also chronicled in several posts on the Tech subreddit.

One of the most common complaints from residents was that appliances provided by the management at the Standard did not work upon move-in, and appliances were only fixed after a delay of multiple weeks. Kyle Laubenstein, a resident, posted a review detailing his experience, saying that “[our] washing machine got fixed 2 weeks after move-in” and that “our cable does not work and has never worked.”

Heating and air conditioning units have also been a serious issue at the complex, as detailed in a post on the Tech subreddit from September. “700 units were installed backwards,” details the poster, before going on to say that the delay in getting the units serviced left hundreds of residents without cooling during some of the hottest days of this past summer, where the average temperature in August was nearly 88 degrees.

Utilities are not included with rent, and in order to get utilities serviced, residents are required to go through a portal charging $60, even if the residents don’t have utilities they need to pay for.

In addition, some utilities, such as internet access, were only set up after repeated prodding of the management at the complex. Antonio Levin, a resident of the Standard, detailed his month of attempts to get internet in a Google review, where he said he was “still waiting for them to contact me.”

Another issue that was raised by several reviews and internet comments was that the length of summer leases at the Standard was insufficient. Summer leases ended on July 31, while some summer courses offered by the Institute had their finals scheduled for the days between August 1st and 3rd. This meant that students living in the Standard had to move out of their housing before they were done with classes, leaving them temporarily homeless during one of the most stressful parts of the academic year.

The unreliable management has left many residents with a bad taste in their mouths. Emily Young, a resident at the Standard, said that it was “the housing equivalent of Fyre Festival,” referencing the infamous 2017 music festival and scam that ended in disaster after leaving its attendants stranded in the Caribbean.

Some of the only praise for the Standard comes in relation to their amenities, namely the rooftop pool. The area has two hot tubs and frequently plays host to viewing parties of local sporting events on its large outdoor screen.

Another of the complaints lodged was that the Standard’s management was slow with following up with residents both over email and through physical mailings. Several of these issues, including returning security deposits and sending itemized lists of damages deducted from security deposits, had elapsed past the legally allowed windows for sending the documents, which highlights the substandard management practices at the Standard.

The Standard is owned and managed by Landmark Properties, a real estate holding company that owns college student-focused apartment complexes in 27 states. The Standard is a brand name for them, and there are branches across the country, including one in Athens, home of UGA.

The Mark is another one of Landmark’s brands, and one property under that banner is currently under construction in East Midtown nearby the existing Standard. The Mark will also be managed by Landmark Properties.

The Trump administration is considering banning the sale of flavored e-cigarettes in the United States. The move comes after the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report on Sept. 6 warning citizens not to use the devices after a series of related deaths.

The use of e-cigarettes has reached near epidemic levels among young adults, with almost 40% of high school and college students reporting that they had used a vape product within the past thirty days. Flavored e-cigarettes make up a large portion of this usage, and the proposed ban is intended to curb the popularity of e-cigarettes among young adults.

The CDC report stated that they had received reports of more than 200 cases of hospitalizations due to lung disease that were linked strongly to the use of tetra-hydro-cannabinol (THC) vaporizers, as well as nicotine e-cigarettes. Among the hospitalizations, the report stated that there were at least two confirmed deaths.

One of the early warnings that the CDC included was that there was likely a link between the hospitalizations and a vitamin E oil added to certain THC vaporizers. The reported cases mainly referenced e-cigarettes and vaporizers using nicotine and THC oils, although there were some that used a mixture of the two substances.

Following the lead of the administration, the state of New York has banned most flavored e-cigarette varieties, which makes it the second state to do so after Michigan, which issued a six month ban that started on Sept. 4. Tobacco and menthol flavors are the only varieties allowed to be sold, and a spokesperson for the state indicated an interest in examining whether menthol should be targeted as well. The state is also planning on increasing the e-cigarette sales tax to twenty percent; the state currently also applies a $4.35 excise tax to all packs of cigarettes sold.

The state of California is also taking on the issue of flavored e-cigarettes. Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order creating a $20 million public awareness campaign about the risks inherent in the use of e-cigarettes and has asked that the state legislature send him a bill that would ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes in the country’s single largest economy.

San Francisco based e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs has indicated an openness to increased regulation of the industry, citing a need to crack down on “counterfeit or knockoff” products. The company had a market valuation of nearly $40 billion earlier this year, although the announcement of bans on flavored e-cigarettes, including its best seller, mint, has dropped its valuation in recent days.

The company was previously reprimanded by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for dishonest and illegal advertising practices. Juul had previously claimed that its devices were less risky than traditional cigarettes, a claim not verified by the FDA. In Illinois, Juul is being sued by a teenager suffering from e-cigarette induced lung disease. The teen alleges that their marketing practices and flavors illegally targeted high school students and that his condition is a direct effect of that.

There have been additional reports of some e-cigarette users reverting back to traditional tobacco cigarettes. The Los Angeles Times covered the case of a twenty-one year old man who tweeted that he “bought Juul to quit smoking cigarettes,” and now he is “… smoking cigarettes to quit the Juul.”

Our democracy is built on transparency and accountability. When you remove this bedrock, everything that we have built on top of it begins to crumble. This is why we have the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and why each one of all 50 states has their own Open Records Act (ORA).

Recently, legislative transparency in Georgia took a big hit. A court of appeals confirmed a lower court’s decision that the State Legislature and its offices are not required to provide citizens with its records under the ORA.

What this means is that notes taken during legislative sessions, studies done by legislative offices, records kept and any data collected are not in the public domain, even though the officials responsible for their creation are elected.

The fact that we, the citizens, cannot access the records of the officials that we elect to write our laws is a problem.

Without this ability, we cannot oversee them or see the intent behind the laws. This is especially a problem after the Citizens United decision in the Supreme Court, which affirmed that corporations were, for most legal purposes, entitled to personhood.

Corporations and special interests can now donate to political campaigns with basically no oversight. The ORA lets us see into our government, but we need to see how our legislators work to ensure that they work for the citizens.

This is not to say that the ORA is perfect aside from the legislative loophole. It is superseded by all federal laws regarding the keeping of records and also includes 14 pages of exceptions in a 23 page document.

This means that there are many important records that, while they are maintained by the government, are not available to the public in spite of popular interest.

There is also the issue of payment. Transparency is hindered by the fact that the ORA makes those asking for records pay for the finding, printing and delivery of those records. Those fees can reach into the hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars depending on the quantity of records requested. This represents a significant barrier for those individuals or groups without the funds to pay, which can hinder important work.

The ORA is not the first instance of the state government attempting to shut their doors to the general public.

In a case going to the US Supreme Court, Georgia’s attorneys are arguing that the annotated code of Georgia should not be available to the public. The code contains all of the state laws, and the annotations provide the necessary context through which the laws are interpreted.

The law should be available to all, just like the records maintained by our government. Lawyers are expensive, and having the ability to interpret the law is helpful for all citizens in their interactions with the government, whether it’s through the police, the courts or a landlord. More transparency makes it easier for citizens to navigate government, and to call it out when it oversteps.

The bright side in all of this is that the lack of transparency isn’t the last word. The decision that makes the ORA not applicable to the legislature is based in the law, which means that it can be changed.

Please pay attention to the case of the ORA as well as that of the annotated code of Georgia as they make their way through the courts. If you live in this country, they impact you. If the decision about the ORA is upheld in higher courts, then the solution is to organize and change the law.

Sign a petition. Call your legislator. Make our government more transparent. Hold the government accountable.

This past Thursday Dr. Ángel Cabrera, the new president of the Institute, addressed the student body for the first time. Throughout the speech he lauded Tech as a school “with extraordinary talent and a strong mission of public service” and referred to the school as a“great institution.”

Cabrera also used the opportunity to introduce himself, although he is no stranger to the Institute. He completed his Ph.D and met his wife Beth Cabrera here. His son, Alex Cabrera, graduated from Tech last spring with his bachelor’s degree. In addition, Dr. Cabrera also served on the Tech Advisory Board for nearly a decade.

Cabrera also spoke about his previous position as the president of George Mason University (GMU) in Fairfax, Virginia. He focused on GMU’s growth in previous years, placing emphasis on having helped the school become an example of “access to excellence.”

This is not to say that his time at GMU always went smoothly. Earlier this year, GMU hired alleged sexual assaulter and Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh to teach at the university. The decision received backlash from student groups such as Mason For Survivors, a student-led advocacy group. A petition presenting opposition to Kavanaugh’s hiring received more than 15,000 signatures, and articles in the Huffington Post have accused GMU of taking money from the Federalist Society, a conservative and libertarian law nonprofit. Cabrera defended his decision to students at GMU this past April, saying “even if the outcome is painful, what’s at stake is very, very important for the integrity of the university.”

He did not comment on the past controversy with Kavanaugh during his speech to the Institute. Cabrera did, however, address the Institute’s issues with mental health and the treatment thereof. He assured the audience that he was committed, saying “[mental health] will remain a priority for me personally.”

Cabrera also introduced several administrative changes that will be taking place in the immediate future. The Title IX Office, responsible for making sure that male and female athletes have access to the same opportunities, will now be under the Office of Institute Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Cabrera also expressed a desire to “earn the public trust” through an expansion of transparency into the affairs of the Institute, as well as to make it more clear why certain records cannot be shared. To accomplish this Cabrera announced a new group being created under Institute Communications, which “will focus on telling our story through the news media, managing crises, as well as being responsive to those seeking more information through Open Records requests and supporting all those in external-facing functions throughout the Institute.” The Open Records department, currently under Legal Affairs, will become a part of Institute Communications inside of this new group.

Cabrera did not come to the Institute from his old post alone. Frank Neville, Cabrera’s chief of staff at GMU, will be working at the Institute in the same capacity. Neville will also hold the title of Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and assume control of the Strategic Consulting department.

This past month, a Georgia appellate court ruled that the General Assembly and its offices are not required to provide citizens with records under the Open Records Act (ORA). The decision comes in a case brought by the Institute for Justice (IJ), a nonprofit libertarian legal activity group that litigates on behalf of people “denied their constitutional rights.”

The IJ was researching the passage of a 2012 law that regulated the practice of music therapy, when they requested records from bodies “including the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives, the Office of the Secretary of the Senate, the House Budget and Research Office, the Senate Budget and Evaluation Office, the Senate Research Office, and the Office of Legislative Counsel.” They sued the state for the records, and in 2017, the IJ lost in court with the judge citing a previous legal precedent in regards to open records laws and the Georgia General Assembly.

The Open Records Act is a portion of the state code of Georgia which allows for citizens and groups to request information from public agencies, municipalities and boards. All 50 states have freedom of information laws, guaranteeing citizens a degree of transparency as to the workings of their government. The federal government, through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), also provides a route for citizens to petition for access to information. Not all public information is accessible through the ORA.

There are several categories that are protected by law, both state and federal, to ensure the privacy of individuals and the security of their data. There are many such protections in Georgia’s ORA; in fact, almost 14 of the ORA’s 23 report pages are concerned with what information may not be provided to citizens. This information ranges from obvious things, such as medical records or the keys to tests from state schools, to things that one would assume would be available, such as record from the offices of the General Assembly.

The appellate court’s basis for their rejection of the Institute of Justice’s claim was a precedent set in 1975 (Coggin v. Davey) in relation to Georgia’s Sunshine Law, the precursor to the current ORA. Per the 1975 decision, “The statute is applicable to the departments, agencies, boards, bureaus, etc. of this state and its political subdivisions … it is not applicable to the General Assembly.” This previous decision pulled from language in the Sunshine Law which explicitly did not include the word ‘offices’ when it defined the organizations that were subject to the law.

This hole was then cleared by a reference to a 1979 decision (Harrison County v. Code Revision Commission) about the general assembly. The decision said that, “the General Assembly, including its committees, commissions and offices, is not subject to a law unless named therein or the intent that it be included be clear and unmistakable.” The court’s reasoning, then, was that because neither the offices of the General Assembly nor the Assembly itself were mentioned in the ORA they are not included in the law.

The dissenting opinion, written by Judge Christopher McFadden, hinges on the “clear and unmistakable” line from the 1979 court decision, as McFadden holds that the intention of the ORA was to include the offices of the General Assembly, but not necessarily the General Assembly itself. It differs from the majority opinion in how it interprets a state office, pointing to the literal wording in the 1979 decision, which says “state … office,” and interpreting that to include offices of the General Assembly.

The decision has implications for governmental transparency in Georgia because there is now a judicial barrier separating citizens from information about how the legislative process is functioning. A similar transparency issue won a victory in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and is now on its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The state of Georgia sued an online legal transparency organization for publishing the annotated Code of Georgia, a copyrighted version of the laws of Georgia that contains citations regarding legal precedents that puts the laws themselves into context.

The state contended that the annotated version of the code was the property of the original publishing company, LexisNexis, a legal research firm; the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals found that due to the content and process of creation “the People were constructively the authors of the annotations.” This was a win for legal transparency in Georgia as it gave citizens access to and important context for the laws that govern their lives without having to pay for access.

The Supreme Court will hear this case next term. The case of the Georgia ORA is expected to be appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court, which means that the IJ’s efforts to make the General Assembly more transparent are likely to be in contention for the time being.

I practically grew up on my grandmother’s knee, studying her habits with the rapt attention of childhood. She spent long hours in her garden, where her green thumb was obvious. When family visited, she excelled at preparing delicious spreads, often with a little help from her children. 

The habit of hers that influenced me the most was how she religiously played the crossword puzzle that came in her daily paper. To me, they seemed impossible. Every clue referenced some person, event, or concept that I had never heard of. My grandmother, thanks to her bountiful experience, was well prepared, and made the impossible look easy as she solved the puzzle over a cup of coffee. 

I still have much to learn before I can hope to achieve the level of skill of my grandmother, but I have found the puzzles stimulating. They require a great breadth of knowledge, covering disparate topics from film to law, from geology to politics. In college we select majors and minors, specializing in a field on our way to a career. This path doesn’t always value the general knowledge that makes people engaged members of society, and lets them be engaging in conversation. Crosswords allow us to build, refresh, and test our general knowledge. 

They reward people who haven’t limited themselves to a single experience, but have instead elected to read widely and stay connected to the world and its goings on. I have found that, for me, crosswords strengthen my general knowledge, even as my classes become increasingly specific.

It is no small coincidence that the most well known crossword puzzles are published in papers like the New York Times; their broad coverage of current events, ranging from obituaries to foreign policy means that many answers are included in the paper itself. 

These outlets value quality journalism and fact based reporting, and they collect current events the world over into a single source, a few pages long. The New Yorker is another prominent publisher of crosswords. Their coverage, however, focuses more on the cultural rather than the political. The current and the cultural show two sides of the social experience, both quizzed in puzzles, and both equally important to personal development. This kind of engagement is the cornerstone of general knowledge, and it is a base to build on as you further expand your experience through entertainment, learning, and leisure. 

I find them to be relaxing and a way to block out the world for a little while, even as you immerse yourself further in it. I subscribe to the New York Times daily puzzle, which means that, much as my grandmother did, I religiously complete it. The satisfaction that I gain from completing the puzzle isn’t really what drives me to continue with them, so much as the chance that they give me to
decompress. 

Crosswords remind us that the world is vibrant and ever changing, and that if we limit ourselves to a single type of knowledge then we lose the ability to connect with all that the world has to offer. 

Earlier this week, Georgia Tech Professor Charles Isbell was selected to be the next Dean of the College of Computing, replacing Zvi Galil, who will be stepping down from the role on June 30. The announcement follows a months long search process which considered several candidates from across the United States, before ultimately settling on four finalists. These finalists gave a series of open seminars, addressed to the students and faculty of the Institute, in order to lay out their plans if they were selected. Isbell will assume the role of Dean of the College of Computing on July 1. 

“I am committed to working with faculty, staff, and students within the College and our colleagues around campus to continue to take risks and effect change so that Georgia Tech continues to provide global leadership in the field of computing and beyond,” Isbell said. 

Isbell has taught at the Institute since 2002, and has research interests in a variety of fields, including artificial intelligence and machine learning. He is an alumnus of the Institute, having received his bachelors of science in information and computer science before advancing to graduate coursework at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Isbell was one of the forces behind the thread structure of the computing curriculum, and has been an advocate for reform in computing education. This was demonstrated through his assistance in the creation of the online masters of science in computer science, an innovative program that allows a degree to be pursued remotely. As the founding executive director of the Constellations Center for Equity in Computing, he has worked to expand the accessibility of computing. 

In addition, Susan Lozier was named to the position of Dean of the College of Sciences. Lozier will be replacing David Collard, who has served as interim Dean since August, when the previous Dean, Paul Goldbart, stepped down. The announcement follows a search process that had much the same format as that of the College of Computing; Lozier was one of three finalists selected to give open seminars to the campus community regarding her vision for the College of Sciences. 

“I look forward to working with the administration, faculty, staff, and students to continue the pursuit of both fundamental and convergent science, and to support mechanisms that encourage bold ideas, entrepreneurial efforts, and productive partnerships,” Lozier said. 

 Lozier, a distinguished professor at Duke University, has held a variety of administrative positions since she began working at the University in 1992. Lozier is also a fellow of the American Meteorological Society, American Geophysical Union, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Her main area of research is ocean circulation and its effect on climate. Lozier is currently the international lead for the OSNAP (Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program) observing system, which tracks the movement of ocean currents and heat patterns. 

Lozier will assume the role of Dean of the College of Sciences no later than October 1.

As of this Tuesday, the North Avenue dining hall will be closed for repairs. Brittain dining hall will have its daily schedule extended in order to cope with the demand for food from the students living in the East campus residence halls. It is expected that Brittain will be East campus’ sole functioning dining hall for the remainder of this semester. 

The cause of the closure is a leak in the kitchen area, which is affecting the safety of the food that is served in the dining hall. This is not the first time that there have been issues with the overhead plumbing system, and this decision comes after the department of Auxiliary Services decided that repairs to the system could not be put off any longer. 

It is currently unclear when North Avenue will reopen; it is unlikely that renovations will be completed by the end of the current semester. According to an article released by the Georgia Tech News Center, North Avenue dining hall is closed “until summer,” however no other specifics have been announced for when the facility is planned to reopen.

Some Institute students expressed their concerns with the situation through the r/gatech Reddit page, lamenting that they thought Brittain would not be able to handle the increased volume of students in spite of its extended hours, as well as suggesting that non-athlete students should be allowed more use of the Edge dining facility. Currently the facility, located in the Edge Athletic Association Building, is open to all students from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. every weekday. 

Representatives of the department of Auxiliary Services were contacted for comment, but had not responded as of the time of writing. 

The search for a new Dean of Science and new Dean of Computing is rapidly drawing to the close with the recent announcement of the finalist candidates for the positions. Three well qualified individuals have been chosen by the Dean of Sciences search committee, a body made up of more than a dozen Institute faculty members. Four individuals were selected as finalists by the Dean of Computing search committee.

The candidates will present their plans for the schools that they will oversee at open seminars held in the Global Learning Center and Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons throughout the months of February and March, with the final decision and announcement of the next Dean of Science and Dean of Computing coming in May of this year. 

The three finalist candidates for the position of Dean of Sciences are Susan Lozier, Rodolfo Torres and Kevin Pitts, all three qualified academics. Lozier teaches at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, where she is a distinguished professor in ocean sciences, and has won a number of prizes in geophysics. Torres is a distinguished professor at the University of Kansas, most recently holding the position of President at the University of Kansas Center for research. Pitts is a professor at the University of Illinois, where he researches experimental high energy physics, working at large particle accelerators to do so.

The four finalists for the Dean of Computing are Charles Isbell, Kathleen Fisher, Radha Poovendran and Ellen Zegura. Isbell and Zegura are current faculty members of the Institute, the former is a professor and Executive Associate Dean in the College of Computing; the latter is the Fleming Professor in the School of Computer Science. Fisher is the Chair of the Computer Science department at Tufts University, and previously worked for the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, as well as AT&T Labs, with her research focusing on “advancing the theory and practice of programming languages”. Poovendran is a professor and Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Washington, and the recipient of several awards for excellence in teaching.

The search committees began in August of 2018, and are composed of dozens of Institute faculty and administrative members coming. The members of the committees are both well versed in the subject matter of the colleges which the Deans will be charged with leading, as well as in the particulars of leading a campus organization. The candidates were put through a careful vetting process in order to ensure that they had the qualifications to carry out the duties of a Dean well. The purpose of the open seminars given by the candidates is to open up the selection process to the campus as a whole; the seminars will allow the candidates to announce their intentions and plans as well as to receive feedback from their potential students and faculty.  

The position of Dean of Sciences is currently held by David Collard, after Paul Goldbart  stepped down from the position in August of 2018 in order to take the position of Dean of the College of Natural Sciences at UT Austin. Collard has received top teaching awards during his tenure at the Institute, has successfully mentored dozens of masters and Ph.D. students, as well as continuously producing research in the field of polymer chemistry. 

The position of Dean of Computing is currently held by Zvi Galil, who will be stepping down in May. Galil has held the position since 2010, and was instrumental in the introduction of the Online Master of Science in Computer Science program, which has been a success. His tenure has been marked by growth in the College of Computing, as the number of undergraduate students pursuing degrees in computer science more than doubled, to 2,394 undergraduate students in 2018–19.